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A visit to the National Art Center in Tokyo

Right before hopping on a plane to go to America for business, there was a day off and R. and I went to the National Art Center Tokyo (but I thought it was the New National Art Musuem? the English and Japanese seem to tell different stories.) I was excited to go to the museum because I had never been before, and I knew it was architecturally interesting. I really like the exterior (and interior for that matter) and have seen it from Mori tower in Roppongi Hills before. I had no idea what was going on, but when have you ever gone wrong by visiting a cool museum?

For me the big thing was walking around the building and checking out the space. I really love the organic smooth flow to the building. It has a nice, roomy interior and an interesting play of light and shadows inside the building.

The exhibition was Artist File 2009, and was pretty cool. I really liked SAITO Meo's work in particulat, even though some of the text-heavy stuff was hard to understand. The paintings had themes, all using the same shape with two different series shown. It was cool. Very detailed, very nice. There was also a series of fake encyclopedic flora, things like "suicide flowers" or other flowers that are representing concepts. Those were much more interesting if you took the time to read the justification and explanations, but it was difficult for me to do. I enjoyed puzzling out what I could though. There were other interesting things, some nice portraits (large format) and abstract paintings that had nice colors (inoffensive, easy to look at, but not as challenging or interesting as SAITO Meo's stuff.)

If you are in Tokyo and have some time, I really liked this museum. I recommend it, check it out!

Apple's FrontRow

On this trip to the US, I brought two machines with me: my work laptop (older, small Dell running WinXP, ugh) and a bigger, middle-aged MacBook Pro 15" laptop running OSX. OSX is really great. I can not praise the automated backup facility it comes with enough. I also love the E-mail client, and all of iLife is pretty amazing also.

One thing I have never really played with though is Frontrow. So I thought it would give it a try. My MacBook came with a cute little remote control, and after putting the mac up on the desk and settling back in the chair with my other laptop for some work last night, I started Front Row up. I was really surprised with how easily it worked. I threw all my media files into a folder on the Movie folder, and navigating there was really easy. The remote works very well. I can read things from across the room. The only thing I couldn't do was delete a file after watching it, but that isn't really a big deal.

I was really impressed with how smoothly things went for playing video. The only problem is that it uses Quicktime to play files, and so isn't quite able to play all formats that I would expect. For example, I have a few files encoded into OGM (Ogg Media format), the open-source container, and Quicktime didn't know what to do with that. I got an error "the video could not be played: the format was not recognized". That is understandable - I never put any OGM codecs on the system, even though I can play the files with the VLC media player.

Perian is a codec that should let me play .mkv files, and perhaps .ogm. I'm not sure about that, but I installed and downloaded it anyway. The Xiph Quicktime components purport to support Ogg Vorbis in QuickTime. After installing that I could get the music to play, but no video. Too bad. Still, most of the stuff that I have is in an AVI container and more and more of it is coming as h264 content, which QuickTime handles just fine.

I'm really impressed with the FrontRow interface. I think once I am rich I will eventually get a Mac Mini and hook it up to the TV for media-player duties.

Back in the USA

I'm back in the USA for three weeks. I flew in yesterday (Saturday) from Tokyo to San Francisco. It was a quick flight, 9 hours. That seems quick to me because usually I fly to New York, which is closer to 14 hours. Anyway, the flight was nice. What was really great is that this is the first time I had ever had a pair of noise canceling headphones - I have a pair of big Sony headphones that I've been using at work - which really cut out the cabin noise. I was really surprised at just how loud it was in the cabin after I had had the headphones on for a while. I watched one movie, The Day the Earth Stood Still (the new one with Keanu Reeves), read a bit, played some Tapper on my GP2X, and slept a bit. The movie was ok. I have never seen the original though, so I don't have anything to compare it to. I loved the cameo by John Cleese.

When I got into SFO I got some coffee, rented a car (Pontiac G5, seems fine but has poor visibility out the back. I should have taken a car without a spoiler.) and headed to the hotel. Then I slept for hours and hours...

I now have my cell phone working - a AT&T Go Phone, so I just added $25 to it and provisioned it with a number. I did some work in the morning, watched the Heat - Pistons game, and now will relax a bit, read some, and maybe do some more work in the evening.

Best of all: I got tickets to Bishop Allen show in San Francisco on Tuesday! I'm super excited about that!!

I have also already eaten a cookie and three brownies. I know I'm going to gain weight, and R. is going to be angry with me for getting fat...

Review of Charlie Stross' Atrocity Archives and Glasshouse

I've finished two more Charlie Stross novels recently. The first is Glasshouse. I highly recommend it. A far-future sci-fi novel, instant transfer wormhole gates, personality downloads, backups, and editing. The main hook is: in a society where mass memory editing has taken place, how can you track down things that might have been completely erased from collective history? It was a very interesting read and has some provoking things to say about memory and history.

The second book is the Atrocity Archives. I also really enjoyed this book. I went in without knowing much about it except for the keywords Lovecraftian, Turing theorem, and some relationship between the two. This is really good for people who have a computer science background and have read lots of fantasy fiction. The book uses a system of well-defined magic mixed with technology. There is another series that I really like that does things the other way: Rick Cook's Wizardry Series. In that series a computer programmer is transported to a world of magic. It has rules and as a programmer he's good at doing things in structured environments. In the "Bob Howard Laundry" series in the Atrocity Archives we have the opposite approach: magic leaks into our technological world, and is also accessible to computer programming-type people.

The book is actually two short stories smashed together, which makes the book really seem disjointed. That bothered me until I realized that it was intentional (just smashing some existing writing together - a lot like my phd thesis...) and then I didn't have any issues with it. There is a sequel (The Jennifer Morgue (Decorating & Design)) that I am interested in reading now also. The book was lots of fun, and pretty funny also. Highly recommended. (Seems like that is how all my book reviews end...)

Credit Crisis Visualized

A really nice video visualizing the credit crisis. This American Life has also done three really great podcasts on the credit crisis with the guys from NPR's Planet Money .

Crazy stuff going on out there. Great little explanation in the video though.

A good thing to know...

Here is something useful for me to know:

At home, if I run the stove in toaster mode, the microwave, the heater, the rice cooker, the usual complement of computers, the other usual appliances, and I hit the "bidet" button on the toilet, I can blow the circuit breaker.

And it gets *very* dark...

Jeff Bezos and Kindle 2 on The Daily Show

I'm a big fan of The Daily Show. Imagine my surprise when I came home to watch Monday night's show and - what what what!? Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com? Why didn't I know about this!? Anyway, the interview is funny, but the Kindle doesn't come out in the best light in this interview. I was surprised really, because I think Jon Stewart is usually very good, but it seemed like he didn't know much about the kindle. I thought he would be all-up-ons this ipod-like genx technology. He seems to be a big fan of reading, but maybe he also likes old-fashioned books. I do too, but I also like the idea of having a portable library if I want that option. :)

I think it is really cool that Jeff went on the Daily Show to promote the Kindle 2. I took a few screenshots, and added what I thought were funny moments. The first shot Jon acts surprised when "Kindle 2" isn't a movie. He gets lots of movie guests. In the second shot he was poking fun at shipping costs, and Jeff introduced the Amazon Prime program ($79 a year, all orders shipped 2day shipping at no further cost) and Jon gave him a bit of ribbing about that. If you order a lot from Amazon it is a great deal. If not, then it isn't such a great deal. But just wait until gas prices rise a bit more...

The third shot is the actual Kindle hand-off, and the fourth shot just has the crawl info for Jeff. Thought it was interesting.

What a surprise. R. said I was entirely too surprised when this came on, but I don't see the director of her hospital on the Daily Show. :)

A trip Hirosaki in the Winter

I'm always complaing about how I am busy and don't have any time. It is true that I am busy, but time is one of those strange things that you can definitely find more of if you have a good reason. Last weekend I took a kind of spur-of-the-moment trip up north to Hirosaki. The main reason for the trip was to get out of Tokyo and see some snow. I also thought it would be a nice trip to get a change of pace. I've been working pretty hard lately and it would be nice to get away from computers for a weekend and relax a bit. When my friend Ian suggested a trip up north, I thought it was a great chance for a change of pace.

I have been in Japan for three years, but haven't really travelled very much domestically. Thinking back, I'm a bit surprised at how little I've travelled. I'll try to fix that once R. and I get on a better schedule together. So Ian and I visited the local travel agent and got a great deal on train tickets plus an overnight stay at an onsen (hot springs resort) in Hirosaki. I haven't been up north for siteseeing much - I did go to Sapporo once for a conference, and did a little bit of travelling then, but I haven't done any tourism in the northern part of the main island. One of the goals of going there now is to see the snow, because we don't get much of it in Tokyo.

On Saturday morning Tokyo train station was absolutely packed with lots of young people carrying skis and snowboards, headed west to go skiing. Not as much people were headed north, but our train was still pretty full. After about an hour, we arrived at Sendai, and from there on things were snowy. It was amazing once we got up in the mountains because you could barely see out the window. It was snowing and things were just a white blur at the speed the Shinkansen was making. I really enjoy train trips, and this was no exception. As part of our ticket package, we got a voucher for coffee on the train, and like most coffee on Shinkansen it wasn't the best in the world, but it was coffee and came in a cute Suica cup. Also, I was amused that one of the trains on our trip was apparently executable. The trip from Tokyo to Hirosaki was supposed to take about five hours all told. The main bulk of the trip was from Tokyo to Hachinohe, on the Shinkansen taking about four hours, and from there another hour and a half or so to cut across West to Hirosaki. Unfortunately, when we got to Hachinohe (which means the 8th Door. There are also towns called 2nd Door, 6th Door, etc.) the trains were not in service because of high winds and snow. Instead they were using busses. So we got on a bus. It was supposed to be headed directly to Hirosaki, but instead at the last minute was changed to stop at Aomori. That probably added an hour and a half to the trip and the passangers were not very happy about it. Two old guy started yelling at the JR guy in very unpolite Japanese. The bus was packed - people in every seat, including the unfortunately souls who had to sit in the aisle on these lame fold-out seats that did not look very comfortable.

The bus probably averaged about 40 KM/H. It was slow. We stopped at two rest stops. There was nothing to eat there except for the standard types of omiyage (gift foods) so for lunch we had strange cake-like things and other gift-type foods. It was a long, long trip, but we eventually arrived at Hirosaki at about 4:30pm. Then we had another bus ride, about half an hour, until we arrived at our onsen, exhausted, tired, and out of daylight.

If you check the maps (hopefully on the right, or maybe a bit up above this) the trip is basically a mostly straight shot from Tokyo north-east up to Hachinohe. That is all on the bullet train. Very fast, very nice. Then from Hachinohe we take a normal commuter train (express style, called the Super White Bird I think) over to Aomori, the biggest city in the north-east. The final leg of the trip is on a tourist train with beautiful big windows called the "Kamoshika", but as I wrote above, train service was suspended and we were in a bus. For like 3 hours. And we stopped at small rest stations. And there was no food. Ian and passed the time playing video games, him on a cool PSP 3000 playing Star Wars Battlefront II while I was playing Tapper on my older, less well-known but more linuxy GP2X. Actually, I enjoyed the bus ride to the extent that long bus rides can be enjoyed.

Once we got to our Ryokan, we were tired and so hit the onsen. I'm sure I've written about onsen (the Japanese hot springs that people here love so much) before, so I won't revisit that topic again. I will note that this place had a 露天風呂 (Rotenburo, outdoor hot spring) which we made use of. Walking naked outside in the cold, with lots of snow falling and on the ground was a bit tough, but the bath is only about a six second walk from the indoor bath, so it wasn't too bad. The suddent dip then into 42 degree C hot water probably isn't a good thing to repeat over and over (and I am suffering a bit of a cold after the trip!) but it was great to sit out in the hot bath and watch the snow fall a hand's reach away.

We had a great dinner (included in the price of the trip) which I forgot to take picture of. It was very good though. Then on the way back to the room stopped to see a live Tsugaru Shamisen performance. The guy was pretty funny, and put on a good show. Then on up to the room and bed.

One of the main goals I had was to get out and see some real snow. I grew up in LA as a kid, and didn't ever see snow. When I was around 13 years old we moved to New Jersey and this white stuff that fell from the sky when it was cold was amazing to me. Then I moved to Dallas, and after that New York, neither of which get all that much snow. Tokyo sees even less snow than New York. But Touhoku (the north-east region of the main Japan island) is full of snow. Not as full of it as Saporro, but full of snow. So I wanted to get out and walk around in it. Ian and I were on a kind of tight schedule, but got up at 6am, hit the onsen again, got some nice breakfast (which I did get pictures of), and then went out for a 15 minute walk to the nearest temple. The temple, 岩木神社 (Iwaki Temple), was great. It was up a hill, full of snow, and just seemed really neat. I wish we had more time to walk around and see the temple grounds. They had a sign set up near a hanging bulls-eye target saying that if you could hit it with a snowball (from the path) then you would have good luck. I completely missed the thing. But I like interactive temples, so it is all good.

The walk back was cold, but we eventually made it. Just in time to check out and head back to Hirosaki station. We really wanted to see some of the Hirosaki sights, but due to a variety of comical mix-ups, didn't really have all that much time. We did get a chance to see the Neputa museum though, which I was really excited about because I've seen some TV broadcasts of a festival in the area where people build these great lighted floats and walk them around town. The musuem had a bunch of these on display, and they look really great. I would like to go back to Touhoku in the summer for one of those festivals. There are apparently two main ones, the one in Aomori (which is crazy big) and the one in Hirosaki, which is not quite as well known and is somehow slightly different. It is probably like the difference between the New York Jets and the New York Giants: I'm not really too clear on it, but some people are rabid enough to kill each other over it (apparently.)

After a nice trip through the museum and some shopping for gifts - お土産 (Omiyage), which are required after every trip out of town. You need to buy enough for the people you work for and pass them around. It is the only enforced social contact that we have at work with people outside our groups. It is really cool actually, because usually once or twice a week someone comes and gives you a small cake, or cracker, and you can chat about what things are like way out there where they visited (usually an hour or two away by bullet train.) The region we were in is the #1 producer of apples in Japan, so most things were apple-themed. Pretty good stuff.

The trip back we were able to ride the great tourist train. Big windows, a nice viewing lounge, comfortable seats. Really nice. Unfortunately, we hadn't booked ahead for the train from Aomori to Hachinohe, and we were a bit late making the transfer. We were in the "open seating" train, and since all the seats were taken, we ended up standing for the hour or so it took to get to Hachinohe before we could catch the bullet train home.

All in all, a really nice trip out for the weekend. I'm really surprised that after living in Japan for three years, I haven't done more of these short weekend trips. As long as the trains are running they really go pretty quickly, and you can get pretty far for a good deal when you do the package hotel + meals + train tickets plan. I'm really looking forward to taking R. out to go snowboarding sometime.

Video cards and linux ... again!

I know I've written about this before but video cards and linux are annoying. Actually, I think video cards are just annoying, this doesn't have much to do with linux at all. They are confusing and hard to get working right.

I actually have two video cards floating around here, an NVidia GeForce (uh, let me check the box) 8400GS and an AMD Radeon HD2400Pro (had to check that box too.) I think they are both reasonable cards to have.

I haven't been using either of them though, instead using the Intel GMA3100 on-board video. Why? Because the two previous times I tried to get the video cards working they didn't. The only problem with using the Intel video is that it isn't really up-to-snuff: the compiz (pretty window and graphics effects) slows down when you have too many windows open. I didn't really mind that, but the problem is that when I reboot the system I have to unplug the monitor and wait until Ubuntu boots into a 1920x1200 mode before it will work. Otherwise the monitor gets into some strange mode and the video card picks up the EDID information from the monitor wrong, sending a bad video mode and basically not working.

Since I don't reboot my machine often that isn't a problem. Except when I have to reboot. Also, I just found out that some games - or in fact random bad key combinations - might also set the monitor into a bad state. And I can't find out where Ubuntu stores the resolution information so I can't ssh in and change it back to what it is supposed to be.

Since I had to reboot to get the screen back, I thought I would pull the desktop out and try shoving the cards back into it. Maybe the drivers had advanced in the past few months. The Nvidia card was still no good: graphic corruption and hard freezes after a short while. I think there could be some hardware incompatibility there. Also, the card doesn't quite fit in my machine. So I couldn't really use it anyway.

The Radeon card is working though! Well, kind of. It turns out that there is some problem with compiz and AMD's driver so you can't run them both at the same time. After turning compiz off though, no more video flickering, and it plays back video really well. I don't know if it is an improvement over the Intel video, but at least it plays with the monitor well and doesn't get stuck in strange non-displayable states.

I would love to use compiz, so hopefully AMD will get around to making their drivers play nice with it.

Amazon's Kindle 2

Not that I'm breaking any news here at all, but Amazon has announced the second version of their ebook reading, the Kindle. It is a nice looking piece of hardware. I actually tested a version of this a few months back when I was in Palo Alto. I really would like to get one of these devices, but it is only being sold in the US currently because of the included wireless internet service. I assume. I will definitely buy one of these if they are released in Japan, but I think I can wait until then.

I have an OLPC that I use to read ebooks on, so that should last me for a while. I'm also a bit unhappy that the books are Digital Restrictions Management on them so you can't read the books that you buy on other hardware. I wonder if the books will be accessible in 20 years or so. I know that my real paper books will be, as long as I manage to store them that long.

Anyway, a cool looking device that I really want, but I'll wait until we get a Japanese approved version out.

Game Center CX: So totally nerdy, it has to be Japanese

A while back I heard about Game Center CX (and an English Wikipedia link also.) It is a TV show that is on Fuji TV, a normal TV channel broadcast over the air, about video games. The main focus of the show is Arino-san, a guy in this mid-30s (?) who plays video games. It is a kind of twist on a conventional Japanese formula: put people in painful or awkward situations and see how they respond to the adversity. The painful situation in this case? Play a difficult game from the 80s to completion. These games are tough. Also, Arino-san is pretty much locked up in a room and not allowed out.

Of course, as with almost all funny people on TV, Arino-san is from the Kansai region. I'm not really sure why he is so funny, but he is really funny. He's playing some game, and gets up to the end boss. He pauses the game and is like "What's that? It's HUGE!" but the way he says it is hilarious. I've watched the first 5 rental episodes of the show (there are 6 total) and have enjoyed each one.

The versions that are available for sale are actually different from the rental versions. I have enjoyed these things so much that I am thinking of picking up the box sets (1 2 3 4 5).

The other interesting thing is that there are two Nintendo DS games based on the series which are compilations of re-made retro games. That sounds interesting to me too. I really want to pick up a Nintendo DS soon: they have nice dictionary software (漢字そのまま DS楽引辞典) and "games" for learning how to write kanji (DS美文字トレーニング) that I would like to try.

The "Division Chief" (課長 - Arino-san) plays some tough games. I was interested when he played Prince of Persia (the Super Nintendo version.) I played Prince of Persia on the Apple //e (after Karateka), but I never got very far at all. So it was really interesting to watch Arino-san go at it. I'm glad I didn't put much time into the game: it was super crazy hard!

He also took on both Ghosts and Goblins and Super Ghoul's and Ghosts, both of which I've played, and never got very far in at all. Those are tough games.

Anyway, check out the Wikipedia link. It is comprehensive. Nerds. I highly recommend the show. The Japanese is fairly accessible, it is super funny, and even if you don't understand Japanese just watching the games is pretty cool.

Things I've been watching on TV

These are things I've been watching on TV. I didn't know much about "How I met your mother", but I really like Neil Patrick Harris. So I started watching because he's in it. I have no idea where I started watching from, but I really enjoy the series. Neil Patrick Harris' character Barney is an extreme caricature, but funny. It also has Alyson Hannigan in it, and I like her a lot too. It has a bit of a preachy quality to it, but is also shockingly touching at times. I think I need to go back to the first season and start watching from the beginning. Also, I want to see if they have it in Japanese (Amazon.co.jp only has the import version) and check out the dubbing.

The Terminator TV show has been excellent. The second season has started to air, and I'm really looking forward to watching that. I haven't had the time to watch it yet though. (I probably spend too much time writing pointless blog posts.)

I have also been watching "It's always sunny in Philadelphia" but honestly it is ... a bad series. But I'm somehow hooked on it. It is a low-class sort of humor, written and acted by idiots, idiotically. Slapstick and lowbrow. And yet somehow fascinating. Danny Devito randomly shows up after the first season. It is worth a look, but I can't explain why I keep watching it.

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" is surprisingly good. The movie got panned, but I have really been enjoying the TV series. It is an old-school Flash Gordon style serial (that reminds me, I watched the first bit of Sci-Fi's "Flash Gordon" remake, but stopped because it wasn't good Sci-Fi, wasn't good Fantasy, and just generally wasn't good.) The Clone Wars has some annoying characters, but it does some very interesting things. The first few episodes have annoying characters with bad accents, but get past that (or just skip them) and it is very good. One of the things that I really like about it is that they show things from the point of view of the clones. They also kill them, and don't just have the clones act like throwaway killable ... clones. It would be very interesting if they would look more at the morality of the war, and the war from the point of view of the soldiers (they do this a bit), and the social position of the jedi and power they wield. It could become a really cool sociological study. Also, the space battles are totally cool. I recommend it!

"Flight of the Conchords" is amazing. The second season has just started. I am looking forward to that a lot. I tried to show R. the first episode. She didn't get it. Although, thinking about it, you really have to be good at English to catch the subtleties. It is hilarious. I'm positive I would not understand the same sort of thing in Japanese.

"Battlestar Galactica" is also excellent. I need to start watching the next season.

Also, I have been watching the new Knight Rider. It is bad. But I still keep watching it. Probably because all the actors are beautiful in it. And the opening theme music is amazing.

Actually, I think I watch too much TV. Man I really miss basketball. I used to be an NBA League Pass subscriber, and I would watch one or two games a day. But now I am lucky to find one game every other month or so.

Running across the Rainbow Bridge

Lately I've been running once a week with a running club from work. I was hoping that the once-a-week runs on Friday would motivate me to also run once or twice during the week to make three runs a week. I haven't been able to run more than once or twice a week because work has been very busy and last weekend I came down with a fever. It was horrible, but after losing my Saturday and Sunday, I managed to recover for work. By Wednesday or Thursday I was ready to start running again, but the timing didn't work out.

The runner's club at work planned a jog on Sunday to run across the Bay Bridge. I've been wanting to run over the bridge ever since we moved to our new place, because we can see the bridge from our balcony (if you do enough acrobatics to actually twist around an see it.) It looks like a run from my place, up to the bridge, across it and a little loop on Odaiba would be about 17km, so that is maybe a long run I can target for an upcoming weekend.

The run that we did today was really nice. We gathered at the and in English) and headed out for our run. There were five of us, and we took a gentle pace, which was good for me since I didn't run at all this week. The run through Odaiba was really nice, there were lots of people around, and the running area was very nice. You didn't have to fight through crowds and there was lots of space. I was excited because I could see my apartment building from Odaiba and the bridge.

The bridge itself was pretty cool. There is a northbound and southbound walking route. Twice over the length of the bridge you have to stop and walk through a building. And take an elevator in one to transfer from the northbound route to the southbound route.

After the run we hit the onsen. I'm not really a huge fan of onsen, although I do like them in general. I just have a hard time staying in a really hot bath for more than fifteen minutes or so. This place is set up to make a nice day trip. You go in there, get a wrist-band with a bar-code, and choose a Yukata to wear. Then you change into your Yukata and head out into the big shopping / eating / gaming section. It is a big themed building with lots of things to do, and lots of things to eat. You can pay for things with the bar-code on your wrist-band that has your key. And you will need it because things are expensive. I had a pretty normal lunch (well, it was more than I needed, but come on I had just run 10km!) and a beer, which came to 2700 yen! That is 1000 yen too many. And the food was completely average. I could have gotten some ice cream for 600 yen too, but I didn't think it was worth it.

I enjoyed the onsen, but again couldn't spend too much time in there. There were lots of foreigners in the onsen compared to other places that I've gone, probably because this is a really big onsen in Tokyo that is well-known. Also, onsen in Tokyo? Really? Are you saying that there is real natural hot spring water in Tokyo? I know there are lots of places that say they pipe it in from deep underground, but...

After lunch, the five of us went to the outdoor "foot bath" where you could wade around in these hot springs with rocks that is supposed to be good for you if you walk over them, but it was mostly just agony for me. You could also pay 1500 yen for 15 minutes with your feet in the "Doctor Fish" pool, where there are these strange fish that eat the dead skin off of your feet or something. I didn't think that was worth it either, but it was apparently an interesting experience. Maybe if I go back.

I really enjoyed the "run 10km, then hang out in an onsen for a while" day plan. I don't think it is something that I will do regularly, but it certainly was something doing once. It would be a lot less fun without the run though I think.

Cool Amazon Robot Party

A Danboard is a "robot" that showed up in volume 5 (I think - I'm only up to 3) of the Yotsubato! manga. It isn't really a robot, it is actually one of the characters from the manga dressed up as a robot made from carboard boxes. The main character, Yotsuba, thinks it is a real robot and hilarity ensues.

Thanks to Matt, the previous occupant of my desk, I've got a huge Danboard robot peeking out over the cube wall. I really like it. I also bought the normal sized version, and then the mini version when it came out in December of 2008. I was really surprised; those guys were the top sellers for weeks at Amazon.co.jp's hobby store, and now they aren't available new any more. The prices shot up quite a bit and now they are hard to get.

I'm glad I've got my two cute robots though.

A visit to Kashiwagi Farm and Ooyama Temple

In mid-January R. and I had a party at our apartment. R. wanted to make roast beef for the party, and since we had a rare instance of days off at the same time coming up she thought it would be fun to drive somewhere to get the meat. She was wanted to go to Kashiwagi Farm, about an hour out of Tokyo in Kanagawa that is apparently pretty well known. Of course, that means I was going to drive, but it is just as well since I need to get used to driving in Japan anyway.

The drive went well, and the farm had a nice shop. We got a bunch of meat, and then on the way out checked the nearby building where they milk the cows. You can take a tour, but it costs money and takes time.

Since we had the rest of the afternoon, we thought we would take a trip to nearby Ooyama Shrine up on Ooyama. I've never been to Ooyama, but I liked it because it was a big mountain and that is exactly what the characters mean: 大 big, and 山 mountain. I love it when things make sense like that. It must be a big mountain because even after we drove up pretty far (through some super narrow roads that were absolutely one-way despite what R. kept telling me) we then walked up lots and lots of stairs. Then we took a rope-train. Cool! The view was really great from up there (not that you can tell from any of the pictures.) Since it was "Adult Day" they had set up some special stuff that I do not know the purpose of. The last train out was at about 5:30pm or 6:00pm, so we just had time to really look around, take a few pictures, then get some tea before catching the train back to the midway station. Then lots more stairs, back to the car, and back to some super narrow roads before hitting Tokyo traffic.

It was both fun and stressful, but I do feel like I'm getting a bit better at driving in Japan. I don't know if I will ever be as comfortable as I am in America though.

You can see all the pictures at the Flickr set.

Amazon's list of 2008 Award Winning Manga

The good people over at Amazon Japan have just released their list of 2008 award winning manga. The good folks from the book department, whose floor I also sit at, put the list together. I've been reading the second series of books (well, comics) on the list, よつばと! and think it is a really good manga for Japanese learners.

Books: David Gemmel's The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend and Natsumi Hikaru's "The Doctrine of Sex"

David Gemmell's Druss the Legend

This past week has been a busy one, but sometime over the past week or two I picked up the second book about Druss the Legend in David Gemmel's the first book, and was even more impressed on reflection because that was David Gemmell's first book. It takes on the fantasy genre in a way that is interesting, going from the point of view of a hero on the way out. I've read lots of fantasy novels, and enjoy the straight on group of heroes against evil approach, but also enjoy fresh looks at the genre. (Most recently George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire's take on Fantasy as historically influenced political novels with a dash of magic.

What really surprises me is that David Gemmell's first book (Legend) was so good and so refreshing. The second novel in the Druss series, but not the second by publication date by a long shot, is a more traditional hero story, but still lots of fun. It is a great light reading fantasy novel that doesn't engage any of the meta-criticism centers of the brain that Legend challenges, and also comes off as a unique story on its own. Another book on the recommended pile. I do have the second book (by publication date) in his series on the pile to read, but next up will be something science fiction (Did you notice the Sci-Fi / Fantasy alternation I've been doing? I don't remember if I've actually done the write-ups in order, but I've been doing that for a while now.)

Natsumi Hikaru's "The Doctrine of Sex"

This is another one that I've been slowly reading. It is a Japanese book, and a bit of a random shot in the dark for me. A few months back Iijima Ai was found dead in her apartment. She is an interesting character, and was a regular on Sunday Japon, a weekend talk show that came on in the mornings. (Also famous as one of the shows that Dave Spector shows up on frequently, but I'm not going to write about him right now. Another interesting character.) She started out as a porn star, and ended up a pretty interesting commentator - a cut above the women that are on the shows to just look pretty - who had a bit of a feminist agenda, and definitely had interesting things to say.

So when I heard that she had been found dead, I decided that I should order her book PLATONIC SEX (小学館文庫) and try to read that. At the same time, Amazon decided to recommend this other book, "The Doctrine of Sex", to me, so I thought "why not?" and picked it up too. It came first, so I slowly worked my way through it.

I wasn't too serious about reading the book - just a chapter here or there when I had time (short chapters, about 1.5 to 2 pages) so you aren't going to get anything about Japanese literature analysis or pedagogical theory out of this from me. (Better hope Alex doesn't see this entry.) It was a fun read, Hikaru had some funny stories, and filled in the background of what it is like to work in the "water business" trade in Japan. It is really pretty light-hearted, she doesn't regret her job, and enjoyed the lifestyle while she was doing it. I did come away with an overall impression of a sadness, or rather a kind of process that jades people. One of the striking things she says is that she started to view men as belonging to one of two categories: men that should love her (and she loves) or men that should pay her. There is something about stripping people down to a sheer monetary value that is sad and depressing: over-application of capitalistic values seeping into the joy of life.

I came away from the book a bit depressed about it all, even though it really is fairly light-hearted. There are even lots of little one to four panel manga illustrating various funny things. It is an adult-oriented book though, so maybe I shouldn't admit that I read the thing here...

One interesting thing from the book is just how much money those women make. She commented once that if she saw something for $1000 or $2000 that she wanted, she could make that just by working hard for a day or two. Wow. Even more crazy is how much money people in those jobs can spend. A really interesting documentary The Great Happiness Space (or on Amazon: The Great Happiness Space (Original Japanese Version with English Subtitles)) is about the host clubs where a lot of these women spend their money. And boy do they spend it. I'm in the wrong line of business. (Actually I don't think I can drink enough to survive in those clubs, and I definitely don't have the people skills to cut it.) Anyway, an interesting movie. Check it out. Also kind of depressing.

For people that might be interested in reading it in Japanese: the level of Japanese was pretty high. I read it without dictionaries, but had to use my phone a few times to look things up, and sometimes just said "screw it, I've got a clear enough idea about things from context". It isn't as tough as some of Haruki Murakami's stuff, but it is harder than most of the manga that I translate. (Not that that is a very high bar, but...)

I need to check out 紅虎餃子房 or 万豚記

According to Famitsu, the restaurants 紅虎餃子房 and 万豚記 will have SF4 themed menus from 2009-02-12 to 2009-04-12. There are a bunch of either of those places in Tokyo, so I should be able to find one. Didn't look like there were any in Shibuya though.

Also you get a card with a QR code and can download a character voice to your phone. Or something. I hardly use all the crazy stuff that my phone can supposedly do.

Joe Haldeman's "The Accidental Time Machine"

On Sunday I picked up Joe Haldeman's "The Accidental Time Machine", a novel that I had ordered because Amazon told me to buy it. When Amazon tells me to buy something, I usually listen because it knows what I like. (But then again, I'm biased!)

Anyway, by Monday evening I had finished reading it. It was a really quick read. I read fast, but a little over a day is fast even by my standards: usually a Japan to US flight eats three novels, and those are about 14 hours flights. I probably only put in about 3 hours reading this book, so it runs a bit shorter than average for me.

I was interested in "The Accidental Time Machine" because I am a big fan of "The Forever War" - one of the classics in SF literature. I actually haven't read it in a long time and would like to pick up the new version that is coming out shortly. That is a good to book to have on hand. I should also pick up Starship Troopers since that is another great one to have around in a similar genre.

Anyway, I really enjoyed The Accidental Time Machine. You can tell because I didn't put it down until I had finished it. I don't think it is on the same level as The Forever War, but it is a nice time travel book. It reminded me a lot of Marooned in Realtime (which if you are interested in picking up you should probably pick up The Peace War as well.)

It also reads along the same lines as The Time Machine. I really enjoyed the book, but it was more along an indulgent, fast and fun read. I was disappointed with the Deus Ex Machina ending, but only in a plot and science kind of way, emotionally it was a really fun and rewarding ending.

I enjoyed reading through some of the bad reviews on Amazon, but I recommend it. Slot it in after you've had your does of hard sci-fi (or run it after some fantasy) and you'll probably really enjoy it!

I did anyway.

Recent Running and Hidden Raves

I just found out that there is a running club where I work. Nice. I joined up and the first run of the year was on Friday. Generally the club meets for dinner at 9:30pm, after running. People run at their own pace, so you have to make plans with people that you know that run at your pace if you want to run with people. The run is around the Imperial Palace, a run I'm intimately familiar with since I did it two or three times a week for 2.5 years. It is a convenient place to run because there is a facility called Runner's Station nearby. It is a little place where you can drop your stuff off in lockers, run, come back, and shower. It is actually very convenient, and I wish there were more of these places located conveniently around the city at nice running spots. Actually, I guess you can get almost the same deal by joining one of the gyms in the area and using them as shower facilities, but Tipness doesn't have a location convenient to the Imperial Palace.

After a nice run I met up with the rest of the crew and we had dinner at a korean place nearby. We got there at about 9:30, and probably left at about 11:30. It was so late in fact that I wasn't able to make the last train on the last leg of my commute. I had to take a taxi from Shinagawa back home, about $10. I didn't get home until 12:30, which is easily the latest I've come home because of the train system here.

On Sunday afternoon I took a long jog around the island across our house. I went as far south as I could for this run. It was about a 9.6km run, and I think I did it in about 56 minutes. It was a nice run. The most interesting thing was that down near the very tip of the island, in the midst of an industrial park, I came across a group of about 30 people. They were young, maybe in their mid 20s. There was a huge speaker system set up, and they had music going. I think it was a small rave-style (?) party. It was really strange. There is really nothing in the area. A nice little park, and a bunch of industrial factories and loading docks. And a big party of hip fashionable youths rocking out by Tokyo bay. Strange. I'll see if they are there next week at about the same time (Sunday, maybe around 4:00pm or so.)

I hope I can run a bit more often in the coming weeks. I still really want to find a way to run by the open side of Tokyo Bay, but it just doesn't look like I will be able to do that from where we live.